Burning Blue
by Bamffan
Summary: Stryker has managed to survive the Alkali Lake incident, and he has gotten back to trying to solve the mutant problem. But what does he want with Kurt? (Chapter Two)
1. Burning Blue : Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. I wish I owned Kurt, *sighs*... I'm also not making any money from this. I probably shouldn't even have to tell you this. The almost _exact same_ _thing_ is posted at the top of every other story on fanfiction.net! Wait, I own Kurt, but I'm late for my compulsive laying class...

Summary: Stryker has managed to survive the Alkali Lake incident, and he has gotten back to trying to solve the "mutant problem". But what does he want with Kurt? 

Rating: PG for action. Maybe a dash of romance there... And of course plenty of suspense. 

Author's notes: 

*This* is a sound.

This is thought speech.

_This _is thought.

Yes, yes, I suppose it is slightly AU because Stryker survived, but I mean, it _might _of happened. Also, he is a very important part of this story, so I suppose he had to survive.

Story status: Kurt's a teacher at Xavier's school, and Jean _ is _dead. The president has not enforced the Mutant Registration Act. He is not aware that Stryker has labs that are still in operation, either... This fic will mostly center around Kurt. _Not_ a Kurtty. 

Kurt and Logan have gotten to be good friends, and there's a little relationship between Kurt and Ororo, I might do a little with that. But I believe Kurt's heart belongs to Jimaine. Stories need a few couples here and there, but I won't write much of it though.

I apologize to all the real German speakers out there. If I messed Kurt's German up, blame the Internet translator. I'm innocent! Also, I'll _try_ to write in his accent. Don't flame if it's not perfect!

Also, please forgive my limited knowledge of some X-men universe matters. I hope it won't be _too_ obvious in this fanfic.

Oh, and don't hate this fic because I messed up the beginning. I don't really remember _every_ detail! 

Also, if you didn't know (and I didn't until I researched,) Jean Gassion is a famous acrobat. He's _not_ to be confused with Jean Gray.

*Ahem* On with the show...

Burning Blue

By Arayah

"Sir, are you lost?"

A man looked up at the guard through thick yellow glasses, but did nothing but stare.

"Are you lost, sir? The guard tried again.

Kurt felt his tail unfurl from the coil around his leg, slowly extended it, and was painfully aware that the guard could now see the blue appendage snaking between his legs.

The guard reeled back like he had been slapped. "Security breech!" He cried as the mutant dashed for him, but that was all he managed to say before the mutant was on top of him, leaping with far more force than necessary. It was enough to flip the man on his back and crush every last ounce of air from his lungs. He glanced down at the guard, then leapt off his chest with such agility that he would of put Jean Gassion to shame.

More secret servicemen, alerted by their fallen comrade, began to fill the halls. Kurt didn't have time to think. Only act and react. He felt his foot connect with the back of one man's head. Then suddenly, *BAMF*.

He was on top of someone else. The guard never had a chance to think before he crumpled to the ground. None of the others did, either. He was trapped in a whirlpool of leaping, dodging, running, and teleporting.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kurt thought _this has to be a dream._ But he wasn't sure. Everything was so real. The pain, the screams... Everything.

He heard the shouts of the many surrounding him. He was now practically in a mid-teleporting state. He would appear for a brief second, incapacitate another panicked guard, then disappear with a *BAMF*, leaving behind a faint whisp of blue, smoke-like atmosphere, and the acrid smell of brimstone. 

The guards barely noticed the stench. Then again, you don't pay much attention to smell when you're being flipped around like salad.

Now there was a lot more than thin whisps of blue mist here and there, the entire section of corridor was filled with an indigo haze.

And only one person was left standing.

With a final glance around the hallway, Kurt turned to a door and opened it. He didn't know _why_ he decided to open that particular door, but he did.

The cerulean mist seeped into the office, and Kurt used it as a shield to see what he was up against. 

There was another *BAMF*, and everything seemed to turn to a blur.

The next thing Kurt remembered was being on top of the president. Pinning him. His tail slipped a knife into his hand. But the president began to change. The face began to shift, the features, distorted. Then the it seemed to shift into someone Kurt knew. 

Charles Xavier was under him. 

Kurt finally seemed to gain control of himself. He stumbled back. Why was he moving so slow?

"You are a monster, Kurt. You tried to kill." The professor whispered.

Except it wasn't the professor now. Ororo now stood in front of him.

"I thought you believed in God." She hissed.

"Nein! I mean, ja, of course I follow God, but I am no monster!" But Kurt had the feeling he was fighting something he had no hope of winning against.

Kurt turned around, to face Logan.

"Logan! You know-"

"Be quiet, freak. You don't belong."

Kurt backed up. Surrounded by his friends. Except they weren't. Would real friends do this?

"Your own mother threw you away..." Another muttered.

"Was ist los? Warum tun Sie dies?" He cried, only to realize he had shouted it in the wrong language.

The X-men had disappeared, only to be replaced by an angry mob. And Kurt had a feeling he had seen this angry mob before.

"It's the demon!" A women shrieked.

"Kill the freak!" Another shouted.

"It eats children at night! No one's safe!" A man screamed, waving his hands in front of the crowd. 

"Nein! Ich verletze nie jedermann! Er war-" Kurt sputtered.

He glanced around frantically, looking for anyone. His eyes penetrated the crowd, and finally he spotted what he was looking for. "Jimaine!" He shouted with pleading eyes.

She glanced up, but did no more.

Kurt continued to yell, but his friends and family wouldn't repond.

He stumbled back further now, and began to feel as though he was falling. But something grabbed him, wound itself around his waist. A rope? It was tugging him... Pulling him... 

He screamed.

* * *

Kurt opened his eyes, and frantically eyed the room. Looking for what?

He was safe. Inside. Away from the horror that had happened at the White House, away from the Oval Office. Away from Weisenburg.

Kurt felt a small twitch of a smile as he realized his own tail was wrapped around him. Not a rope.

It had been a dream, but the remarks still stung. 

"Kurt?" A soft voice asked.

Kurt spun around, half expecting some cruel comment, but no. It hadn't happened. _It was a dream._

"Kurt, are you all right?" Ororo pressed, "you were shouting in German..." She sounded worried. 

Kurt nodded slowly. He was still a little tense, even though the details of the dream were starting to slip through his fingers, but the insults were still fresh. "It was just an Alptraum... A nightmare." Kurt explained in a small whisper, eyes downcast.

"Care to talk about it?" Ororo questioned, coming closer to him.

Kurt shook his head, and Ororo respected his privacy.

"Will you be okay?" She asked, hoping to at least know if the unnamed incubus was going to trouble him further.

"I am thinking zhat I vill be quite all right." He assured her.

She came a little closer, hoping that if she could not know what was troubling him, that at least she could offer some comfort. He glanced up at her. "Kurt, this is the second night in a row-"

She was interrupted by a low whistle from the hall way.

"Don't mind me, lovebirds, I'm just... patrollin' the halls." Logan grinned.

Ororo turned to face him. "Logan, _just _because you are lucky enough to have a working door, doesn't mean you have to rub it in that Kurt's was destroyed in the raid!" She was seething.

There had been an invasion of the mansion only a few weeks earlier, and not all of the school had been restored, although there was a security system in the making that would put Fort Knox to shame.

Ororo glanced up at Logan, then turned to the door frame, and gave Kurt one last glance. "Just holler if you need anything, okay? I'll be just across the hall."

"And I'm only a bamf away!" He grinned, pointy teeth showing between azure lips.

Logan watched Ororo walk back to her room, and close her door. _Too bad she has one_, he thought with a mental chuckle.

He took a few steps into Kurt's room, not quite sure if he should be there.

"You okay, Kurt? I think I heard exactly what 'Ro heard. Didn't know you could scream so _loud_." He rubbed an ear for emphasis.

"It vas just a dream. Zat's all." Kurt whispered.

"No. I know dreams don't make you scream. When I have a nightmare like that, I wake up on a pile of fluff, having torn up the mattress with my claws."

Kurt smiled faintly. 

"So you wanna talk about it?" 

Kurt looked up at his friend. Somehow he felt a bond between, that was to... sensitive with Ororo. He didn't want to frighten the beautiful mutant.

"It vas... about vhat happened at zhe Vhite House." Kurt whispered.

Logan shot him a look of understanding.

"About what Stryker did?" He muttered.

"Ja."

Logan shot him a meaningful look. "Even after fifteen years... I still wake up with nightmares." It was now Logan's turn to look down at the floor. He never talked about this.

"But at zhe end," Kurt continued, "I vas in the office. Vith zhe president. And... Everyone else vas there. They vere... Vell, it was like some times in Germany."

Logan knew what he meant. "You know that _none of us _think that you are a monster. And for a good reason too. You have more kindness... And compassion, and all that niceness rubbish than the rest of the X-men combined."

Kurt smiled. 

"More than me, that's for sure."

"Nein, mein Freund! The good in you is only hidden." Kurt argued.

Logan shrugged. "You might be right, Elf."

"Es war gut, Sie sehend Logan, bildet-" Kurt was interrupted.

"English, Kurt! English!" Logan grinned playfully.

"Ach. Sorry." He put his hand to his head. "That happens when you try to think in two languages at once..."

"Don't say I know the feeling." 

"It was good seeing you Logan." Kurt looked up.

"Anytime. Try to sleep peacefully, 'kay?"

Kurt nodded. "You too, mein Freund."

Logan turned, and gave one last look at the blue German, and walked out the door frame.

"Have good dreams too, Herr Logan." Kurt whispered, before laying back down on his bed.

He closed his eyes and tried to forget the horrible nightmare that had awakened him such a short while ago. tried to block out the images of pain, rejection, and horror.

Tried to forget all that had happened over the years, and tried to focus on the now. He was now in a safe place, now with people that understood him to a good degree, now at a place where he did not have any fear of showing his face. But still he remembered the past. Not all bad, of course. His thoughts touched on Jimaine, and the circus, where he had been the star as the "Amazing Nightcrawler". He remembered his late night talks with his adopted sister, chatting so late, that they were usually too tired to wish each other a good night's sleep before nodding off.

Kurt gave a mental shake of his head. It was unlikely that he would ever see Jimaine again, with an entire ocean separating them.

He was just finally drifting off to sleep, letting slumber take him, when he suddenly opened his eyes. 

*Click*

Kurt cautiously peered into the night. Now he was thankful that he had no door, for he would never of seen what was just outside his room.

There was someone looking through his hollow door frame. 

And that certain someone had a gun.


	2. Burning Blue : Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. I wish I owned Kurt, *sighs*... I'm also not making any money from this. I probably shouldn't even have to tell you this. The almost _exact same_ _thing_ is posted at the top of every other story.

Summary: Stryker has managed to survive the Alkali Lake incident, and he has gotten back to trying to solve the "mutant problem". But what does he want with Kurt?

Rating: PG for action. Maybe a dash of romance there... And of course plenty of suspense. 

Author's notes: 

Just remember what I said last time.

And I apologize again for the German [again]. I probably butchered it worse than Wolverine could with his claws... Stupid internet translators! 

I hope this won't be as bad as it seems to me... I'm not too happy with this chappie, but reviews make me update faster, if anyone wants me too! (It's actually thanks to that "I'll die if you don't update" reviewer that reminded me that some people want this continued... And part to the very disappointing lack of Kurt action fics. What's is _with_ all the Kuroro fluff?!)

Oh, and I know I put "Thorm", so don't flame me or something because you didn't read the author's note up here, but you just don't say S's when whispering, because that's the sound most likely to be heard. I just thought I'd make Scott smart enough to know that. ;-)

Oh god, I'm rereading it again. The beginning stinks. And yeah, I see Imp's point. I need more description. I don't think this is as good as its predecessor... Well, before I rewrote a ton of it. It's a ton better now... 

Note I probably shouldn't put up: I had most of this written ages ago. It just got lost on my computer. Also, I had wanted to put some stuff between this, as this is not really how I wanted it to go, so I got mad and let it collect dust. BUT I didn't want to be responsible for the death of that poor reviewer... So, here you go! I'm so sorry about the time between updates! 

*Ahem* On with the show...

Burning Blue

By Arayah

Kurt stared at the profile outlined in his door, unsure of what to do.

He was pretty certain the man couldn't see him, as he had an unconscious ability to blend in with shadows. The man glanced around him, making sure he was alone, and once again looked into his room. Kurt was starting to suspect that he was beginning to realize that he was not the only one awake.

The man stuck his head in, and glanced around, his eyes flickering once again to the lump under the bed covers. 

He drew a quick breath, and brought his wrist up to his mouth. "I think we've got one." Kurt barely heard the low whisper.

The room was silent now. The soldier had suddenly frozen, and jerked his head to the left. He raised his hands to protect himself...

Too late.

TSEEEW!

A scarlet beam of energy engulfed the soldier, throwing him back into a wall, and then _through _it.

Kurt scrambled out of bed, not needing to look at who had been responsible for the blast. "Herr Scott? Vhat's going on?" He shouted frantically as he ran toward his friend.

Scott raised his hand, signaling for Kurt to be quite, and the terrified expression he wore was reason enough not to question him further.

Cyclops motioned for Kurt to follow him, and Kurt tiptoed into the corridor, his misshapen feet making no noise against the pale carpet. "You go get Thorm, I'll wake up Wolverine." Scott hissed.

He turned and began to walk the hall, freezing every few feet as though prepared for a next attack, and Kurt spun to face the one in front of him. He wondered for a moment if he should knock, but Scott's alarmed behavior convinced him that he would just have to risk disturbing Ororo. Turning the knob slowly, he peered inside.

"I vould holler," He took a step inside, "but I don't think zhat now is quite an appropriate time." He whispered with a small grin, smiling at the weather goddess laying spread eagle on the bed.

Ororo opened her eyes. Then, when she saw the German sticking his head in the doorway, she sat up, kicking her pearly sheets to the foot of her bed.

"Kurt- what's wrong? Did-" She started.

"Something is very wrong, Liebling, zhere are strange people here."

TSEEEW!

They both turned toward the sound of the beam, and Kurt jumped back as a hole was blasted in the wall, and a figure clad in black sailed through it.

Someone with spiked hair ran past Kurt, and Kurt saw him pick up and toss another man through a window. 

*Snikt* 

Logan had popped his claws.

"Sounds like the fight's already begun." Ororo grinned. "Let's go introduce ourselves."

* * * 

William Stryker looked anxiously out of the helicopter window, and smiled when he saw Xavier's School for the Gifted on the horizon. There were already helicopters there, of course, and already there were men filling out of them, running toward the building. He smirked at the swiftness of the attack. Xavier would never know what hit him, and there was nothing that could keep Stryker from witnessing the action for himself. 

"No more nice things this time, Mr. President," He whispered to himself.

Last time, when he had performed this "Special Operation", he had been forced to use tranquilizers, to avoid death wherever possible, and only do what was needed. No one wanted to see a dead mutant kid on the news, he was told. But he was his own boss now. And personally, he would cheer if he saw that report on on the news channel. And guess whose opinion counted?

The operation itself was fairly simple. He wasn't trying to destroy the entire school, although he had hinted to his men that there wasn't a problem with destroying a few things, and that there was nothing wrong with smashing furniture. But in fact, he wanted nothing to do with the school.

What he wanted was inside.

Xavier's school was a gold mine, and he thought that the professor should of seen it coming. People who want the threat of mutants eradicated, like himself, don't go looking for some guy with scaly skin in a dark alley. They go where the mutants are clustered. 

The mens' orders were to neutralize any promising mutant, and load them in a waiting helicopter. One mutant per squad. Kill whatever presented a problem.

He grinned.

The helicopter began to go in a shallow dive, having almost reached it's destination. 

"Take 'er over the front lawn, do a complete circuit before landing." Stryker instructed the pilot, as he bent over to watch the scene below him.

* * *

KZZAZZK!

A bolt of lighting snaked through a shattered window and illuminated Ororo's face. The three soldiers in front of her took an involuntary step back, terror written all over their faces.

She. Was. Pissed.

Her enraged glare alone frightened them into submission. Though that fact that they were the sole survivors aided the meekness.

Their unit had attempted to ambush her and Kurt as they were emerging from her room. A very wrong move, considering that they had no idea what kind of mutants they were dealing with. 

All it took was one man sailing through her sliding glass door, and seventeen men were sucked out before they realized where the hurricane level winds were coming from. The three remnants cowered before her.

She had no idea where Kurt was, and that worried her. He had disappeared in a puff of smoke as soon as he got her assurance that she could handle herself. _ And_ Logan's word.

The tallest of the three momentarily glanced at the frightened figures behind him, then took a small step foreword. His pale features were clearly defined by the fleeting light of the bolt, and she smiled as she saw a slight quivering.

"We've got this place surrou-" He said with false bravado, but he didn't get a chance to finish his frightened speech, as it's rather difficult to articulate when a very angry man with claws flings you like you were a rag doll.

The other two simply ran.

Ororo winked at the seething Wolverine, and glanced around the deserted corridor. A light fizzled, dangling from the ceiling, and there was a scorch mark the size of a basketball where her anger has manifested as electricity. 

"Come on," Wolverines gruff voice barked urgently from behind her, with a twinge of uncharacteristic concern.

"What is it?" Ororo glanced back at Logan.

"I think I hear the elf."

* * * 

As the helicopter went into another dive, Stryker thought he had imagined the sudden flash of blue smoke. Or that it was some trick of the light, and his mind almost automatically blamed the sound of imploding air as some twisted sound of a gun shot.

*BAMF*

But his mind couldn't make excuses for what he saw next.

There was a familiar blue figure surrounded inside a circle of men, _his _men, he reminded himself. Between the mutants feet was a small girl. As one of his men stepped closer, he balled his hands into fists, still standing over her defensively. 

For a brief second Stryker wondered why he didn't just grab the freak and go, but his smiled widened as he noticed a soldier with his gun aimed directly at the girls forehead.

And Kurt got his message. 

You fool, he thought happily, _you just can't make sacrifices._

He knew that was part of the reason he had such ease with their previous encounter. All he had to do was threaten someone, and _bam_, Kurt complied.

He felt a slight jolt as the helicopter touched down on the moist grass. Hastily, he jerked the door open, and stepped out. As he approached, most of the men took one glance at his face and quickly stepped out of his way.

He headed straight for Kurt.

* * *

Kurt slowly unfurled his tail down the leg of his pants. The men were only watching his visible limbs, ready to kill the girl as soon as he moved. 

They were at a standoff. If hemoved or teleported, Kurt had no doubt they would try to kill the student. If _they_ moved, Kurt would try to teleport with the child. 

Neither was sure who was the better draw.

His tail was almost out now, in a few seconds he would be able to work it through the cuff and around the child...

Kurt saw the people in front of him began to shift. Making way. Making way for whom? A negotiator? He glanced at where the opening appeared in the ranks, and stared at it for a full second before he realized what he was seeing. More precisely, _who _he was seeing.

"Hello Nightcrawler," said an all too familiar voice, laced with contempt.

A sudden wave of panic erupted through him, with another of nausea a second later, and he stumbled back, but nobody made a move for their gun. They knew they didn't have to, for even he had forgotten about the girl in that brief instant. 

Hundreds of emotions ripped through him, and dozens of memories seemed to flash through his brain at once, but above all, a dominating feeling of helplessness overwhelmed him. Some rational part of his mind, some reasonable piece buried deep beneath the frenzied thoughts told him to flee. But his brain wouldn't let him; logical thought has all but deserted Kurt, and he stared transfixed with all too real horror at what was in front if him.

The panic was almost too much, the man he feared most was filling his field of vision, leaving him like a deer in headlights...

He screamed.


End file.
